Taskforce in hunt for gang raiding drug dealers

POLICE are hunting up to six key members of a group of violent Aboriginal men who are targeting northern suburbs drug dealers and robbing them.

A taskforce of 14 hand-picked detectives and uniform officers has been raiding houses across the northern suburbs on a daily basis searching for the men. The offenders are armed with weapons including a rifle, a double-barrelled shotgun, a sawn-off shotgun, a handgun, a cattle prod and a machete.

Operation Zeal commander Detective Inspector Steve Taylor yesterday revealed while police believed there were six key members of the group, there were another "20 to 25 persons of interest" who may have been involved in some of the 15 home invasions linked to the group since September 9.

He said membership of the violent group was "fluid" with participants moving in and out, which had made the task of apprehending them more difficult.

Since Operational Zeal was mounted on October 23, detectives have charged five men directly connected to the home invasions and another three for other offences. The latest arrest was made in the Riverland on Thursday morning when a man, 31, was arrested on an unrelated matter.

Det. Insp. Taylor said none of the home invasions conducted by the group was random and there was a "clear link to illicit drugs" in the majority. "Someone is providing the offenders with intelligence on where drugs may be sold and they are the premises being targeted," he said.

In almost every incident the offenders had demanded either drugs, cash or had taken household goods.

Six vehicles have also been stolen including a $70,000 Lexus with five of them later found burnt out and one crashed.

Police had received limited help from the Aboriginal community or those involved in the drug trade in the northern suburbs because "they don't want to implicate themselves" in such activity.

Det. Insp. Taylor said police held "very real" fears that any future home invasion may end with a victim being shot or being fatally assaulted. He urged victims to come forward because they could have information that could help police make an arrest.